SLPP AGM is legal: Sagara responds to G.L.

Saturday, 22 April 2023 00:34 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says AGM was called according to electoral laws and not party constitution
Claims it is legal despite SLPP Chairman’s claims to the contrary
AGM to go ahead today at the Nelum Mawatha party office

General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Sagara Kariyawasam maintains that the party’s Annual General Meeting for 2023 scheduled to take place today is well within the law, in response to its Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris’s claims that it violates the party constitution.

Kariyawasam said the AGM has been called not according to the party constitution as assumed by Peiris but instead according to electoral laws in the country. He said accordingly the AGM is in fact being held according to the law, despite Peiris’s allegations to the contrary.

The SLPP AGM will take place at No. 1316, Nelum Mawatha, Battaramulla today from 10 a.m. onwards.

On 11 April, Kariyawasam is said to have informed Peiris in writing of the plans to hold the SLPP’s AGM on 22 April and requested the latter to forward any proposals within five days of receiving the letter. However, in response this week Peiris informed the party that he intends to challenge the legality of its Annual General Meeting, which is scheduled to take place on 22 April.

He informed the party he will take appropriate legal action in court on the basis that the decisions taken in the General Assembly are invalid, null and void. Peiris said the SLPP AGM is not constitutional and decisions taken at this meeting will have no legal effect. He further said he has reserved the right to resort to appropriate legal proceedings in this regard.

In September 2022 the SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris along with 13 other Government MPs decided to sit with the Opposition in Parliament as an independent group. The relationship between Peiris and the SLPP has been acrimonious since. In March the party announced that the Executive Committee of the SLPP had decided to remove Prof. G.L. Peiris from his post as the Chairman of the party. However, Peiris claimed to have not been informed of such a decision and threatened to take legal action if any attempt was made to remove him from the post.